Monthly Archives: April 2012

what’s in a name? (quite a lot, as it turns out)

Posted on April 30, 2012 by anna cowan

I finished my structural edit last week, and have moved on to a line edit (this is where I get to just read through and fix single lines, or delete single paragraphs that aren’t quite working. Hopefully it’s not the … Continue reading →

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the ugly hero

Posted on April 26, 2012 by anna cowan

I’m not sure when exactly the trend tipped, but at some point in the past couple of decades, romance heroines started to become more…normal looking. More like the kinds of ugly ducklings most of us are: we’re not gonna turn … Continue reading →

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the Valerie Parv Award: a minion’s tale

Posted on April 23, 2012 by anna cowan

The Valerie Parv Award 2012 opened for submissions today, and it’s inspired me to write about my experience winning a year’s mentorship with Valerie. First things first: I never intended to enter the competition. I had just joined the Melbourne … Continue reading →

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Love is selfish

Posted on April 16, 2012 by anna cowan

Here’s where I admit that I look down on the kind of hero who stays away from a heroine “for her own good”. As far as I’m concerned, the species of human love that romance novels deal with is a … Continue reading →

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choice makes you human, human makes you interesting

Posted on April 3, 2012 by anna cowan

I’ve seen two examples recently of a character exercising their human autonomy through the act of choice. Both of these characters were in complex circumstances that they could have used to explain away their actions. In both cases, doing so … Continue reading →

Posted in on writing, review | Tagged , , | 10 Comments